chelle

and Dru - I think your attitude in these two posts sums up how you tend to interact on this board. It's tiring too have to skip over so much criticism and sarcasm. Like others have suggested, what keeps you from just skipping over people's TR posts if you don't like them? Or sending them some constructive criticism via a pm? This might actually have a more positive effect than flaming them in public for not writing a TR that reflects your prefered style, spelling and grammar usage. Overall my point was that I think there would be more TRs if people didn't have concern that what they wanted to post was going to be called dumb, too easy, uninteresting, or poorly written. Or be called a bragging chestbeater. Why haven't I written more TRs? Well this year I haven't had that many days out there because of my shoulder. And last year I didn't write TRs because I figured I'd get flamed for the climbs I was doing. And when I talked to another cc.comer about how my climbing had progressed and I was really psyched to be leading 5.8 solidly in the Valley, I was told I was chestbeating. Considering the hardest trad pitches I had lead before my trip last spring were on the Becky route, I was really proud of myself. And after this crowd's reception of my TR about my climb on Green Drag-on that was trolled out of me by a skilled troller, why would I want to post about my climbing trips and adventures on this site. I got a lot of "you didn't belong there" "you suck" and "go back to top roping and gym climbing" attitude. Rather than the "way to try to push youself" or "Wow sounds like you were really scared and had an intense experience" or "Hey, let's go aid climbing and I'll teach you a few tricks." But whatever. It hardened my skin a bit and taught me not to care about what a lot of people on this site think. And it's easier to stay quiet and avoid public criticsm... The unfortunate thing is that if too many people do this then we don't have many posts about people's climbing trips and this just becomes a sprayground for political discussions and personal arguments... maybe that's what Jon and Timm@y wanted, but I doubt it.

Dru (and anyone else who loves to just post b.s. and dis on everyone else)- do you get away with your attitude in your everyday life? Is this how you interact with your family and co-workers? How about people you call close friends? I hope not. If you don't behave the way you do on this board in all aspects of you life, I'd like to know why you reserve your negative arrogant attitude for this board? Were you the school yard bully back in elementary school too? While this is a virtual community, it is a community and a lot of us spend several hours a week hanging out talking with each other via the board. Lately there has been very little talk about climbing and most halfway decent discussions we get started quickly get trashed by you or one of the other avatars that behaves fairly negatively or someone who is in a bad mood that day. Honestly, I worry that it brings down the quality of the content on the board and believe the negativity DOES discourage people from posting here. Whether it is a TR, a request for beta, or a cool thing from their life they want to share or challenge us to think about. What do you get out of criticizing someone else's writing style or grammar or spelling? Does it make you feel better about yourself? Or are you really a closet English teacher who hasn't bothered to change professions? As a community cc.com has had some really great face-to-face get togethers in the past few months. My personal hope was that it would help cut down on some of the b.s. and pettyness on the site, and also bring people out of the woodwork and encourage them to participate. cc.com is a great site most of the time, and I have met a lot of really cool people who I now call friends. I was talking to another cc.com poster a few weeks ago after a slide show. We saw a lot of other cc.comer's at the show. More than half the room was filled with people that were fit and looked like they were more than casual gapers, and quite a few seemed to know eachother. We were wondering who they were. Where did they get to know eachother? Do they hang out on cc.com? I have no idea. There is a fairly large climbing community in the NW. I bet some of them post or lurk on this board, some people have probably checked it out and thought it pretty juvenile and stay away. Where are the rest? I used to almost always ask people if they posted on this board when I met them at the crags or in the mountains. I realized that I don't do that anymore. I still don't have an answer to that one, but sometimes I'm a little embarrased that I spend so much time here...particularly when the board is in one of its more juvenile or nasty periods.

Don't really know what you're referencing there PP. His shows were of his trip up Mt. Bradly in winter (the gift that keeps on giving), the Czec Direct on McKinley in 2000, and a tribute to climbers he has known who are now dead. It was all really well done.

Here's a question I posted on another thread. I am hoping to get more people discussing the issue and would love to see some more TRs... Why does this crowd seem to think that someone sharing their trip and what they learned is cheastbeating? No wonder few people want to put their trip reports on this board. I for one think it is cool to hear what people learned and how they challenged their own limits. That's one of the reasons I read mountaineering books periodically. It would be so incredibly boring to just get the facts about distance, elevation gain, grade, and time. Kinda like reading a guidebook. Come on people, what are you so bothered about?

Would be great, but the clause in the legislation that said people who knowingly defrauded the American public will face up to 20 years jail time was removed at the request of the White House. They're finally starting to think ahead...just not about the right issues

Yeah...just look at his nominees for the head of the EPA.

This makes me sick : puking gremlin: The Army Corps has and always will be IMO a corrupt organization of engineers who are so enamored with building dams that they have no concern for the environment, wildlife, or the people who live on rivers. For more angering info read "Cadillac Desert" It talks about how the waters of the west were tamed and the deserts settled. It also details some of the competitive political wars between the Corps and the Bureau of Reclaimation. The guys running those organizations in the mid 1900s had egos bigger than tanker trucks and had political clout to push their agendas through. Many of the dams built in the west were the result of a "race" between the two organizations.

Classic. I hope you had a bunch of posers standing around telling you how to climb it. The beta wolf posse.

Or the president and the rest of his cabinet for that matter.

It was a great show. I likes how he's talk a bit and then show us the multimedia bit. His pictures are really beautiful. Unlike other presenters I've seen (except maybe Scott Backes) I got a sense that he was really sharing his experience rather than clicking through slides and telling us what was done and when. Didn't expect almost 3 full hours of entertainment since most shows are about an hour. Definately an evening well spent.

Why does this crowd seem to think that someone sharing their trip and what they learned is cheastbeating? No wonder few people want to put their trip reports on this board. I for one think it is cool to hear what people learned and how they challenged their own limits. That's one of the reasons I read mountaineering books periodically. It would be so incredibly boring to just get the facts about distance, elevation gain, grade, and time. Kinda like reading a guidebook. Come on people, what are you so bothered about?

March seems kinda late season for Aconcagua. What route were you thinking of?

Szy--bp was probably just trolling with talk about the hotties. It's a sausage fest for sure like most other nights out at clubs in Seattle. I may show up tonight though. You still unemployed, er, I mean gov't sponsored?

Doesn't GWB insist that all questions from the media during a press conference be submitted in advance? If they don't play along they lose their press passes.

in that case then Catbird is right. We've been talking about the next election so much, I guess I just assumed...

Thinker...that is just wrong.

Wishful thinking there Catbird. Unfortunately the wheels are in motion and the deficit will likely be that high or higher regardless of who gets elected. It's about who will be best at cleaning up the mess. Check that Economist article for more details.

I think this part is the best. We were once rebels, but seems we have forgotten our country's roots. And the reward of this occupation/war does not make any sense to me.

Here's a great article that outlines the potential trouble the US economy is in. This week's Economist PP - not some liberal media article. Site studies by Libertarian think tanks, and compliments economic policies of Bush Sr. and Regan. What's your take on the "mess" GWB has gotten us into.

Trask - I read it and thought it was interesting. For more info on some of the legislation changes that affect pensions (what lobbyists are pushing through on the social programs front) check out today's NYT. It is pretty sad to see that so many pensions have failed in the past year, and that congress is actually talking about relaxing the rules that require certain assumptions that are in place to ensure adequate funding. They are helping companies that would have to put millions of dollars in their plans by the end of the year, avoid doing so. Just one more issue that will have an impact on the economy one way or the other. Companies will have to put money into the pensions to make sure they can cover the checks to gramps and grammy. This will cause them to have reduced profits which will affect stock prices. At least in the large cap market. OR Congress will push through the legislation, companies will record profits, stock prices will be largely unaffected by the issue, and gramps and grammy may have to get jobs to pay the rent because the checks they worked for are vastly reduced or eliminated when the plans fail a few years down the road. Don't even get me started on social security as aback up plan. That bomb will go off in 10 years or so...

Contrary to American culture...more is not always better. This applies to both breasts and penises IMO.

Thanks. Went to try that and noticed it stopped on it's own. Weird. It was blinking for at least 25 minutes... But it's all good now I guess.

I just replaced the battery, reset the time and date and can't get the display to stop blinking. It is really annoying. Anyone know how to make it stop? I didn't keep the instructions and the Nike website sucks bigtime.

Scotland, PA? Yep. I liked it.